424 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



who were present. They thought them very fine, though 

 the fire had partly deprived them of their lustre. When 

 the general had satisfied his curiosity, he retired to take 

 his dinner. While thus engaged, a soldier came in, who 

 told him that, in eating some of the oysters caught by the 

 Indians, a very fine and brilliant pearl had got between his 

 teeth, and he begged him to accept it as a present for the 

 Governess of Cuba. Soto very civilly refused the present, 

 but assured the soldier that he was just as much obliged to 

 him as though he had accepted his gift ; he would try to 

 reward him one day for his kindness and for the regard for 

 his wife. He advised him to keep his (intended) present, 

 and to buy horses for it at Havana. The Spaniards who 

 were with the general at that moment, examined the pearl 

 of this soldier, and some who considered ' themselves as 

 experts in the matter of jewellery, thought it was worth 

 400 ducats. It had retained its original lustre, not having 

 been extracted by means of fire." 



Pearls are obtained in some parts of the Eastern Archi- 

 pelago. Those from the Sulu Islands are very fine. A 

 companion of Magellan mentions having seen two pearls, 

 in the possession of the Rajah of Borneo, as large as 

 pullets' eggs. 



From the island of Labuan pearls are sometimes sent 

 to Singapore to the value of about ;£■ 11,000 in a year. In 

 1867, 1990 taels of pearls, worth ;^io,45o, were exported, 

 as against 3853 taels in 1868, worth ;£"i 1,554. In 1869 the 

 shipments were only to the value of ;^2329 ; and in 1870, 

 to £t,6B6. 



About the Society Islands, where the pearl fishery is 

 carried on, pearls are most frequently found in oysters of 

 medium size, and frequently very fine ones are obtained. 

 M. Cuzent, in his account of Tahiti, published in i860, 



